Contents

Description

It is a herbaceousperennial plant growing to 80 cm
tall and 100 cm across, with a thick succulent stem and evergreen glossy leaves. Flowering is in spring,
usually on lime-rich soils. The drooping
cup-shaped flowers are
yellowish-green, often with a purple edge to the five petal-like
sepals on strongly upright stems. The flowers, typically for the
family, contain numerous stamens as well as up to ten nectaries which make them attractive to bees and other insects. Each flower produces up to five
(usually three) wrinkled follicles. Foliage is pungent when
crushed.[1]

All parts of the plant are poisonous, containing glycosides. Symptoms of
intoxication include violent vomiting and delirium.[1]

Horticulture

Flowers

It is grown in gardens for its handsome evergreen foliage and
large numbers of green, bell-shaped flowers borne in late
winter.

The cultivar 'Green Giant' has very bright green flowers and
finely divided foliage; 'Miss Jekyll' has fragrant flowers,
intensity varying with the time of day; 'Wester Flisk Group' has
red-tinted leaves and stems and gray-green flowers; the 'Sierra
Nevada Group' is dwarf, reaching 30 cm.